Background
Early numeracy skills are associated with academic and life‐long outcomes. Children from low‐income backgrounds typically have poorer maths outcomes, and their learning can already be ...disadvantaged before they begin formal schooling. Understanding the relationship between the skills that support the acquisition of early maths skills could scaffold maths learning and improve life chances.
Aims
The present study aimed to examine how the ability of children from different SES backgrounds to map between symbolic (Arabic numerals) and non‐symbolic (dot arrays) at two difficulty ratios related to their math performance.
Sample
Participants were 398 children in their first year of formal schooling (Mean age = 60 months), and 75% were from low SES backgrounds.
Method
The children completed symbolic to non‐symbolic and non‐symbolic to symbolic mapping tasks at two difficulty ratios (1:2; 2:3) plus standardized maths tasks.
Results
The results showed that all the children performed better for symbolic to non‐symbolic mapping and when the ratio was 1:2. Mapping task performance was significantly related to maths task achievement, but low‐SES children showed significantly lower performance on all tasks.
Conclusion
The results suggest that mapping tasks could be a useful way to identify children at risk of low maths attainment.
To improve equity in the provision of health care and provide risk protection to poor households, low-income countries are increasingly moving to social health insurance. Using data from a household ...survey of 3301 households conducted in 2009 this study aims to evaluate equity in enrollment in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Ghana and assess determinants of demand across socio-economic groups. Specifically by looking at how different predisposing (age, gender, education, occupation, family size, marital status, peer pressure and health beliefs etc) enabling (income, place of residence) need (health status) and social factors (perceptions) affect household decision to enrol and remain in the NHIS. Equity in enrollment is assessed by comparing enrollment between consumption quintiles. Determinants of enrolling in and dropping out from NHIS are assessed using a multinomial logit model after using PCA to evaluate respondent’s perceptions relating to schemes, providers and community health ‘beliefs and attitudes’. We find evidence of inequity in enrollment in the NHIS and significant differences in determinants of current and previous enrollment across socio-economic quintiles. Both current and previous enrollment is influenced by predisposing, enabling and social factors. There are, however, clear differences in determinants of enrollment between the rich and the poor. Policy makers need to recognize that extending enrollment will require recognition of all these complex factors in their design of interventions to stimulate enrollment.
► Evidence of inequities in enrollment in the NHIS in Ghana. ► Significant differences exist in determinants of enrollment between rich and poor. ► Policy makers need to recognize that extending enrollment will require recognition of these various determinants.
Previous educational research has extensively investigated the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and academic performance. In higher education, however, this relationship still ...deserves a comprehensive examination given both practical and conceptual reasons. To attend to this need, a mixed-methods systematic literature review of 42 studies has been carried out. In the first part, a summative content analysis examines how SES and academic performance are measured. In the second part, a meta-analysis estimates the effect size of the relationship between SES and academic performance in higher education. Findings suggest that SES is measured through education, occupation, income, household resources, and neighborhood resources, while academic performance in higher education is measured through achievement, competencies, and persistence. Furthermore, the meta-analysis reveals a positive yet weak relationship between SES and academic performance in higher education. Prior academic achievement, university experience, and working status are more strongly related to academic performance than SES.
•A strong theoretical framework to study the SES-academic performance relationship is still missing in higher education.•The current study proposes operationalizations of SES and academic performance that take their complexity into account.•Prior achievement, university experience, and working status likely mediate the SES-academic performance relationship.
Background and aims
While alcohol‐attributable mortality rates are higher in low socio‐economic status (SES) groups, less is known about SES differences in all‐cause mortality in alcohol use disorder ...(AUD). The aim of this study was to explore whether there are SES differences in people with AUD, regarding (i) treatment admission, (ii) all‐cause mortality risk and (iii) relative mortality risk.
Design and setting
A prospective cohort study in Norway, follow‐up period from 2009–10 to 2013. Data on SES and mortality were obtained through linkages to national registries, using national unique ID numbers.
Participants
AUD patients (age 20+) admitted to treatment in 2009–10 (n = 11 726) and age and gender frequency‐matched controls from the general population (n = 12 055).
Measurements
The SES indicator was education level (low, intermediate and high). Mortality was calculated as deaths per 1000 person‐years during the 4‐year observation period.
Findings
Admission to AUD treatment was elevated in the low compared with the high SES categories (OR = 3.31, 95% CI = 3.09, 3.55). Among AUD patients, mortality risk was elevated in the low SES category (HR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.45). Relative mortality risk from AUD was significantly higher in the high SES (HR = 8.65, 95% CI = 6.16, 12.14) compared with the low SES categories (HR = 3.29, 95% CI = 2.61, 4.15).
Conclusion
Admission to treatment for alcohol use disorders in Norway appears to decrease with increasing socio‐economic status, and relative mortality risk from alcohol use disorder appears to increase with increasing socio‐economic status.
Psychological stress during childhood and adolescence increases risk of health problems across the lifecourse, and inflammation is implicated as an underlying mechanism. To evaluate the viability of ...this hypothesis, we used meta-analysis to quantify the association between childhood/adolescent stress and inflammation over the lifecourse. Furthermore, we addressed three unresolved conceptual questions: (a) Does the strength of this association change over the lifecourse? (b) Are different types of childhood/adolescent stressors differentially associated with inflammation? (c) And which components of the inflammatory response are involved? A systematic search identified 187 articles reporting 922 associations. Meta-analyses were conducted using a three-level multilevel approach and controlled for study quality, conversion confidence, and whether effect sizes were unadjusted or adjusted (n = 662, 72%). Results indicated a small but reliable overall adjusted association (
r
^
= .04). The magnitude of the association strengthened across the lifecourse-effect sizes were smallest in studies that measured inflammation in childhood (
r
^
= .02) and became progressively larger in studies of adolescence (
r
^
= .04) and adulthood (
r
^
= .05), suggesting the impact of early stress strengthens with time. By contrast, effect sizes did not vary by adversity type (socioeconomic disadvantage, maltreatment, other interpersonal stressors, and cumulative exposure across stressors), or component of inflammation (circulating biomarkers of low-grade inflammation vs. cytokine responses to microbial stimuli). Implications and future directions are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
Stressful experiences during the early decades of life increase susceptibility to health problems across the lifespan. Excessive inflammation is thought to be an important biological mediator of this relationship, but there has yet to be a comprehensive synthesis of the literature relevant to this hypothesis. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of 187 studies on the association between stress during childhood and/or adolescence and inflammation that were performed over the past 2 decades. The results indicated that inflammatory markers were higher among individuals who had experienced major psychological stress during childhood and/or adolescence. The relationship between childhood/adolescent stress and inflammatory markers increased in magnitude over the lifecourse, suggesting the influence of early adversity may compound with time. These findings refine our understanding of the role that inflammation plays in connecting early stress and lifecourse health.
Although previous investigations have agreed that Chinese rural-to-urban migrants' socioeconomic status (SES) increases with their migration, the association between SES and subjective well-being is ...uncertain. To address this research gap, the present study proposed that the association between objective SES and subjective well-being is mediated by subjective SES. This model was tested with a sample of 432 Chinese rural-to-urban migrants. The results indicate a significant association between objective SES and subjective well-being and a partial mediating effect of subjective SES. Furthermore, subjective social mobility, which is one's expectation about the possibility to move upward in the social hierarchy, was found to moderate both the direct path from objective SES to subjective well-being and the indirect path from subjective SES to subjective well-being. These findings suggest that Chinese rural-to-urban migrants gained in subjective well-being not only because of direct financial achievement but also because of their perceptions and beliefs about their relative social status.
•Objectively measured children’s direct use of natural environments with GPS.•Associated use with mental wellbeing and examined sex and income as modifiers.•Children’s use of natural environments was ...associated with better mental wellbeing.•Associations were stronger for children from lower income households.•Targeted interventions could reduce mental wellbeing inequalities.
Exposure to natural environments may benefit child mental wellbeing whilst offering a lever to reduce health inequalities. However, understanding of these relationships is limited by evidence from indirect measures of exposure. We objectively measured children’s direct use of natural environments—and use in low or high physical activity (PA) states—and associated this with their mental wellbeing. We then examined moderation by sex and household income.
Using global positioning system and accelerometry data from children (n = 640), we measured mean daily time in natural environments (‘total use’), which we stratified by PA level as ‘passive use’ (sedentary and light PA) and ‘active use’ (moderate and vigorous PA). Logistic regression associated exposures with dichotomised Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire outcomes (internalising difficulties; externalising difficulties; prosocial behaviour), with interactions to examine moderation.
A 10-minute increase in total use was associated with 10.5 % lower risk of abnormal internalising outcomes (OR: 0.895; 95 % CI 0.809, 0.990), and 13.2 % lower risk of abnormal externalising outcomes (OR: 0.868; 95 % CI 0.776, 0.990). This suggests that ∼ 60 min of daily total use was associated with 50 % lower risk of abnormal internalising and externalising outcomes. The relative effects of passive and active use were equal, but their associations were moderated by income independently for specific outcomes. For externalising outcomes, the risk of abnormal scores in lower-income children reduced as passive use increased (P = 0.027) but remained constant for higher-income children. For prosocial outcomes, the likelihood of normal scores increased with active use in lower-income children, but not higher-income children (P = 0.005). Sex did not moderate these associations.
The findings suggest that targeted interventions supporting disadvantaged children to use natural environments could help address inequalities in mental wellbeing. Further, the moderated associations with types of use suggest the equigenic effects of natural environments may operate through multiple pathways.
Children raised in families with low socioeconomic status (SES) are more likely to exhibit symptoms of psychopathology. However, the strength of this association, the specific indices of SES most ...strongly associated with childhood psychopathology, and factors moderating the association are strikingly inconsistent across studies. We conducted a meta-analysis of 120 estimates of the association between family SES and child psychopathology in 13 population-representative cohorts of children studied in the US since 1980. Among 26,715 participants aged 3–19 years, we observed small to moderate associations of low family income (g = 0.19), low Hollingshead index (g = 0.21), low subjective SES (g = 0.24), low parental education (g = 0.25), poverty status (g = 0.25), and receipt of public assistance (g = 0.32) with higher levels of childhood psychopathology. Moderator testing revealed that receipt of public assistance showed an especially strong association with psychopathology and that SES was more strongly related to externalizing than internalizing psychopathology. Dispersion in our final, random effects, model suggested that the relation between SES and child psychopathology is likely to vary in different populations of children and in different communities. These findings highlight the need for additional research on the mechanisms of SES-related psychopathology risk in children in order to identify targets for potential intervention.
•In a meta-analysis, youth with lower socioeconomic status had greater psychopathology.•This effect was small and consistent for many indices of socioeconomic status (SES).•Youth with indicators of serious financial hardship had the most psychopathology.•SES was more strongly related to behavior problems than depression or anxiety.
Background
Socio‐economic status (SES) is a powerful predictor of attainment. Research has identified multiple mechanisms that underpin the effect of SES on attainment. For example, self‐regulation ...(processes through which individuals direct and control their attention, emotion and behaviour) has been identified as one mechanism mediating the SES attainment gap. However, previous studies have not directly tested the statistical pathways by which children from lower SES backgrounds develop low self‐regulation skills and subsequently poor attainment at the end of primary school. Adding the home learning environment, which is associated with both SES and self‐regulation, further fleshes out the longitudinal pathways.
Aims
We propose and test a new model where the relationship between SES and school attainment is sequentially mediated by the family home learning environment and the child's self‐regulation.
Sample
This study uses the Effective Pre‐school, Primary and Secondary Education data set to study 2311 English children.
Methods
We measured SES (via socio‐economic disadvantage) based on an index of low parental education, occupation and income at age 3+. The home learning environment was measured by the Home Learning Environment Index at age 3+; self‐regulation was a teacher report on the Child Social Behaviour Questionnaire at age 4+ and attainment was measured via scores on national assessments of English and Maths at age 11.
Results
Our measure of disadvantage predicted attainment. The home learning environment predicted children's self‐regulation skills. The relationship between disadvantage and attainment was sequentially mediated by the home learning environment and self‐regulation.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that home learning environment and self‐regulation may play a sequential role in perpetuating socio‐economic disparities in education.
Peer victimization is a serious issue among school-aged children. Chinese left-behind children tend to experience peer victimization and associated nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior. However, ...the possible improvement of subjective socioeconomic status (SES) based on increased family income may serve to buffer the relationship between peer victimization and NSSI, and this buffering effect may differ by level of social support. Thus, the current study aimed to examine the moderating effect of subjective SES on the relationship between peer victimization and NSSI by the level of social support among Chinese left-behind children. A total of 431 left-behind children and 447 non-left-behind children (comparison group) completed self-report scales measuring peer victimization, NSSI, subjective SES, and social support. Results showed that peer victimization was positively related to NSSI among left-behind children, but not among non-left-behind children. Moreover, for left-behind children with low levels of social support, high subjective SES intensified the association between peer victimization and NSSI; peer victimization was positively associated with NSSI among left-behind children who reported high subjective SES, but not among those with low subjective SES. However, high levels of social support seemed to protect the left-behind children with high subjective SES who experienced peer victimization from NSSI. For non-left-behind children with both parents present, high subjective SES played a protective role in the association between peer victimization and NSSI, regardless of the levels of social support they enjoyed. These findings contribute to an understanding of subjective SES as a moderating mechanism in the association between peer victimization and NSSI among left-behind children. Social support proved central to the protective role of subjective SES. Intervention programs to enhance social support can help to strengthen the protective effect of subjective SES on NSSI among left-behind children who experience peer victimization.
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